about suffering they were never wrong, the old masters

My instinct is to delve into the classics, the "you should read this" canon. But I've forced myself to mix it up with modernity. Books of this year or similarly recent. See what's out there now. Learn a bit of the market.

Conclusions?

The modern pile:

• The Ten-Year Nap = a real snooze
• Olive Kitteridge had me going until a ridiculous, overly sentimental story midway through pulled me right out
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo did keep me turning pages, but in the end, I don't think it's superior to other books I've read in the genre.
• The Lacuna is what I'm currently on, and I'm past page 200 hoping it will get better. I read an NPR review today that echoed my feelings, and I'm pretty confident it won't improve. Back to the library!
• The Heights is the runaway winner of this category. Unpretentious and genuine.

Keeping it classy:

• Crime and Punishment, much funnier than I thought it'd be
• Notes from Underground, dark and absurd
• One Hundred Years of Solitude = love, major love
• The Things They Carried, which I recognize is not "old," but somehow I was never assigned it in high school unlike 99% of students.  Major love. Major "I wish I wrote some of these lines."

The old school keeps my heart.